Tag Archives: paris climate treaty

“Yeehaw! Who’s chokin’ on your French Fries now bitches!” was almost my initial rebel yell response to when Donald Trump announced yesterday, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” His speech surrounding his decision to pull us out of the Paris Climate Agreement nearly convinced me that the United States is getting seriously hosed by the rest of the world. I started to almost feel bad about trying to be environmentally conscious or care about the planet my two daughters are going to have to grow up in. “Fire up the coal and let’s get frackin’ baby!” I began to be sold to thinking as Trump babbled on like a little kid sore loser on the playground about lost profits, fleeing jobs and how it was an unfair deal to the U.S. The problem is, none of his deranged sermon really makes much practical sense if you observe the natural world around you or acquire information from sources outside of the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Breitbart News.

Reality and intelligence soon regained a foothold on my brain as I drove home to Orono, Maine and I started to consider what pulling out of the Paris Climate Treaty really says about the country we are. Trump directly insulted the French, but he also indirectly insulted the rest of the world. He essentially said that temporary American jobs and short term profits are more important than the health of the planet.

According to Trump’s philosophy, all of the countries of the world should just do what’s best for them. Thankfully, it doesn’t sound like that is going to happen. The world is ignoring the selfish, ignorant bully running our country and instead listening to common sense and most importantly science.

Despite this setback, I am optimistic that our country will collectively reject this decision and continue to push foreword with policies even more aggressive than those agreed to in the Paris Climate Treaty. Trump continues to live in the isolated, deranged bubble that only those who have lived a life focused on the accumulation of wealth and power at the expense of others can afford. I am confidant that America will step up to be a world leader in environmental policy because there are far more of us out there who pay attention to scientific data and fact. There are far too many of us in this country who don’t have our heads stuck up our asses. We can see what’s going on and we actually read real books and journals that include actual evidence of what’s now occurring and what is potentially going to happen if we don’t collectively work together to decrease CO2 emissions.

Many in Trump’s base will remain hypnotized by his imaginary false promises no matter what happens but as time marches on, those in his bubble will become less significant. The America I know and love is going to rise up and show the world that the vast majority of us understand the importance of working together to make our planet healthier. Trumps bubble of greedy nut jobs will self-implode and burst out of our twitter feeds as quickly as they blew in. We are his boss and he just made a decision that hurts the Earth’s bottom line.